This invention relates to a spill-proof drinking container, and particularly to a covered spill-proof container wherein the person's mouth can be applied to any point around the circumference of the container cover.
My issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,013 discloses a dripless covered container having a drinking spout that contains a liquid outlet control valve. The control valve automatically closes when the container is overturned or otherwise tips over. When a person's mouth exerts a suction force to the drinking spout the control valve automatically opens to enable the person to withdraw liquid from the container. The person can drink from the covered container in various tilted positions of the container as long as the control valve is in contact with the liquid.
The dripless covered container shown in my issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,013 has a drinking spout offset from the container cover central axis. The person using the container is required to hold the container in a position wherein the spout is generally below the level of the liquid in the container. When the container is in a near-empty condition the container has to be tilted downwardly so that the spout is pointed in a downward direction, as shown in FIG. 2 of the patent drawing; otherwise the control valve will not be in contact with the container liquid.
The present invention is concerned with a covered dripless container that can be held in a range of different positions, while still permitting the person to consume liquid from the container. The container has an annular drinking spout having plural drinking ports spaced around the periphery of the container cover, whereby the person can apply his/her mouth to any point along the drinking spout.
The invention enables the person to grip the container at any point on the container side wall; it is not necessary to orient the hand grip in any special relationship to the drinking spout. All that is required is to lift the container to one's mouth and tilt the container sufficiently to cause the container liquid to flow into the area of the annular drinking spout in contact with the mouth. Drinking ports in contact with the person's mouth convey the liquid from the container into the person's mouth.
The covered container can be used as a dripless training cup by infants or young children. However, the container has other uses, e.g. as a container for coffee, soft drinks or other beverages that one might wish to consume while in a moving truck, automobile, or mobile home, where a conventional drinking container might tend to spill or overflow. Invalid persons, or persons not having complete control of their hands or mouth areas, would find the container of the present invention especially useful, due to its spill-proof character and its relatively easy method of use.
The invention contemplates a dripless covered container having an annular drinking spout that allows the user to drink from any circumferential location on the spout. Evenly-spaced drinking ports along the spout facilitate the desired drinking procedure. The container cover is preferably a molded component formed out of any suitable plastic material, e.g. a polyolefin. An annular suction-responsive control valve within the annular drinking spout can be molded, or otherwise formed, out of various elastomers, e.g. silicone rubber.
The annular suction-responsive control valve within the drinking spout preferably comprises an elastomeric molded ring structure having a hollow "V"-shaped cross-section. This annular valve ring is provided with a series of evenly spaced circumferential slits formed in the apex surface of the "V"-shaped elastomeric wall structure so as to be aligned with the drinking ports in the associated drinking spout; the walls of the "V"-shaped wall structure are flexible so as to be responsive to vacuum forces. The annular drinking spout has a number of internal partitions interposed between the various drinking ports so as to form a number of separate internal vacuum chambers, one chamber for each drinking port.
These internal partitions abut the apex area of the elastomeric "V"-shaped wall structure, such that each slit in the apex area of the elastomeric wall is potentially exposed to a vacuum force generated by the person's mouth on the aligned area of the annular drinking spout. The aforementioned partitions form individual vacuum chambers between individual drinking ports and individual aligned slits in the elastomeric valve ring, whereby the vacuum force is directed or localized to a particular slit. Any slit exposed to the vacuum force will be opened for transporting liquid from the container through the aligned drinking port in the annular drinking spout into the person's mouth.
Typically, the annular drinking spout will comprise a hollow "V" cross-sectioned wall structure having two convergent annular walls and a bridging wall at the point of convergence of the convergent walls. The drinking ports will be located on a circumferential line running along the bridging wall. Typically, there will be approximately sixteen to twenty drinking ports evenly spaced along the circumferential dimension of the bridging wall. Each drinking port can be a small rectangular hole having a length cross-sectional dimension of about 0.20 inch, and a width cross-sectional dimension of about 0.02 inch. The port cross-sectional dimension is small enough so as to achieve a pressure differential across the individual port.
The pressure differential achieved across the individual drinking port is designed to minimize drippage out of the drinking spout when the person ceases to exert a suction force on any one of the drinking ports. Residual liquid in any one of the vacuum chambers in the drinking spout tends to remain in the chamber, rather than leaking out through the drinking port.
The invention provides an improved covered dripless drinking container that can be readily and conveniently used in various attitudes or positions. The person can grip the container in one hand and put the container up to his mouth so that any point on the annular drinking spout is engaged with the mouth. The user can withdraw liquid from the container at any point along the annular drinking spout.
Specific advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the attached drawings and description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention.